Got this note from Eddie Wong of NAATA. See my response (I will append
names of those who signed on to the earlier petition). Anyone else who
wants to sign on before I hit "SEND" should let me know today. I've
touched bases with the OIF--as expected, since this isn't really "a library
matter," they're not interested in joining in. I did get good bits of
advice, tho...working with NAATA, being one of them.

-- Gary and Joan,
I was forwarded your email and wanted to open up some dialog. As you know,
NAATA was one of the group's asking Fox to cancel the Chan series. I'm
sure you can understand the reasons why Asian Americans find Chan to be an
offensive stereotype.
I also understand your position. I believe that Fox or any network that
chooses to show racially stereotypical movies should alert the viewers to
the broader context of the work. The History Channel apparently does this
by having a panel discussion before and after the broadcast of "Birth of a
Nation," DW Griffith paen to the KKK. Having Fox do this with the Chan
films would educate the audience. Most commercial networks, however,
aren't in the education business. All they care about is getting the ads
sold. So if it is a choice between having racist movies on air without
contextualization and not having them on air at all, I still favor not
having them on air at all. The emails that are coming to NAATA reveal a
great ignorance about racism and media literacy. People who tell us that
we should "turn the channel" and "lighten up" really don't understand that
racial stereotypes have a detrimental impact on Asian American self-esteem,
not to mention engender racial hatred.
Fox has opened the door to bring back the series. On the Fox Movie Channel
Website, they say they will leave it up to public opinion. Perhaps, we
will have to deal with this issue and can work together on getting Fox to
put some strong disclaimers or additional commentary as the series continues.
I regret that things are going in this direction. If we had left the Civil
Rights Bill up to a public opinion poll, there would still be segregated
housing in the South. Progress comes with some amount of pain. The
victims of racial stereotyping in films have borne the burden too long.
I hope to hear from you.

Thanks for your thoughtful note; I appreciate your contacting us. As I
am sure you aware, the discussion group I represent (The American Library
Association Video Round Table/Videolib listserv) comprises librarians,
educators, film/video producers and distributors. As a group, we have
enormous respect for NAATA and its programs. The VRT has worked very hard
over the past 15 years to establish close working relations with
independent filmmakers and distributors. We feel strongly that video
librarians and indie video producers must continue to work closely together
to ensure the availability of diverse, quality collections and programming
in libraries and schools. At the same time, as librarians and educators,
it is equally important to us to ensure freedom of expression, freedom of
access, and continuing access to the full-range of our printed and visual
history. We are painfully aware of the long history of negative
stereotypes in the media in this country, and we celebrate the growing
diversity of voices and visions available on film and video that are
striving to counteract these images. It is our strong position, however,
that no one is served by ignoring the past or by limiting access to the
cultural record. The history of movies is, as you know, one that
includes a legacy of stereotype and other hurtful cultural images. It's
our job as librarians and educators to provide both access and context to
these images so they may be viewed and discussed in a hopefully more
enlightened light.

We would very much like to work with both NAATA and Fox to develop a way to
present the Charlie Chan films in a historical and cultural perspective. I
look forward to discussing the possibilities further with you.

Got this note from Eddie Wong of NAATA. See my response (I will append
names of those who signed on to the earlier petition). Anyone else
who wants to sign on before I hit "SEND" should let me know
today. I've touched bases with the OIF--as expected, since
this isn't really "a library matter," they're not interested in
joining in. I did get good bits of advice, tho...working with
NAATA, being one of them.

-- Gary and Joan,
I was forwarded your email and wanted to open up some dialog. As
you know, NAATA was one of the group's asking Fox to cancel the Chan
series. I'm sure you can understand the reasons why Asian Americans
find Chan to be an offensive stereotype.
I also understand your position. I believe that Fox or any network
that chooses to show racially stereotypical movies should alert the
viewers to the broader context of the work. The History Channel
apparently does this by having a panel discussion before and after the
broadcast of "Birth of a Nation," DW Griffith paen to the
KKK. Having Fox do this with the Chan films would educate the
audience. Most commercial networks, however, aren't in the
education business. All they care about is getting the ads sold. So
if it is a choice between having racist movies on air without
contextualization and not having them on air at all, I still favor not
having them on air at all. The emails that are coming to NAATA
reveal a great ignorance about racism and media literacy. People
who tell us that we should "turn the channel" and "lighten
up" really don't understand that racial stereotypes have a
detrimental impact on Asian American self-esteem, not to mention engender
racial hatred.
Fox has opened the door to bring back the series. On the Fox Movie
Channel Website, they say they will leave it up to public opinion.
Perhaps, we will have to deal with this issue and can work together on
getting Fox to put some strong disclaimers or additional commentary as
the series continues.
I regret that things are going in this direction. If we had left
the Civil Rights Bill up to a public opinion poll, there would still be
segregated housing in the South. Progress comes with some amount of
pain. The victims of racial stereotyping in films have borne the
burden too long.
I hope to hear from you.

Thanks for your thoughtful note; I appreciate your contacting
us. As I am sure you aware, the discussion group I
represent (The American Library Association Video Round Table/Videolib
listserv) comprises librarians, educators, film/video producers and
distributors. As a group, we have enormous respect for NAATA and
its programs. The VRT has worked very hard over the past 15 years
to establish close working relations with independent filmmakers and
distributors. We feel strongly that video librarians and indie
video producers must continue to work closely together to ensure the
availability of diverse, quality collections and programming in libraries
and schools. At the same time, as librarians and educators, it is
equally important to us to ensure freedom of expression, freedom of
access, and continuing access to the full-range of our printed and visual
history. We are painfully aware of the long history of negative
stereotypes in the media in this country, and we celebrate the growing
diversity of voices and visions available on film and video that are
striving to counteract these images. It is our strongposition, however, that no one is served by ignoring the past or by
limiting access to the cultural record. The history of movies
is, as you know, one that includes a legacy of stereotype and other
hurtful cultural images. It's our job as librarians and educators
to provide both access and context to these images so they may be viewed
and discussed in a hopefully more enlightened light.

We would very much like to work with both NAATA and Fox to develop a way
to present the Charlie Chan films in a historical and cultural
perspective. I look forward to discussing the possibilities further
with you.